Fire on the Mountainside
by ElCaballito
Summary: Qui-gon and Obi-wan head out for what seems like a boring mission and find themselves in the middle of a dangerous, interplanetary conflict. Forget about trying to bring peace, for now. The boys will have a hard enough time staying alive. T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Ahhh yes I don't really own that much. If you remember it from somewhere, it's probably straight from canon or the ridiculous extended universe. I'm not being very careful with this story. It's just for some swashbuckling fun. :-) The first part is a flashback, I'm playing around with scene order a little bit.**

**Chapter One:**

Obi-wan sprinted along the edge of the gorge, blocked by a two hundred foot fall on one side and a wall of fire on the other. The blaze arced into the violet sky, the light of the stars fading beneath the intensity of the red flames. The air scalded Obi-wan's lungs with each breath. His feet were dizzy from want of oxygen, but every time he lost distance in his stride the margin between his body and the green blaster shots narrowed. A hundred meters ahead a little stream curled in close to the path. Obi-wan could sense the hydrogen bonds breaking, the vapor pressure of the water equalizing with the atmospheric pressure. The temperature of the steam skyrocketed. He could tolerate extremely hot dry air, but the delicate tissue lining his lungs would not survive the curtain of wet steam he would soon have to cross. There was death to his right, death waiting before him, and death gaining ground from behind. He desperately searched the bank of the gorge with the Force, feeling the contour of the earth for a path he could survive. There it was – a spot less steep than others, coming up fast on his left. But what did it empty into? What came after that little drop? Pain seared through his arm as a blaster shot grazed past him. There was no time to know.

He dove headfirst over the edge of the gorge, clamping his jaw shut, tucking his head down and leading with his left shoulder. A full second stretched out, long and terrifying as he met only open air. And then his shoulder hit the scree from the Cliffside and flipped him over. Obi-wan kept his arms and legs in tight as he careened in a wild roll down the hill. The ground rushed by faster and faster – an arm or leg that went out too far would break, and the gravel was ripping through the back of his tunic. He sensed a drop coming in his path, a whole hundred feet of air ending in crushed boulders. The center of the river was still forty feet out. He tried to quell his fear as the ledge rushed toward him, resisted panic when rocky knob snapped one of his ribs, and uncurled his body enough to launch himself off the ledge at the very last moment. At first the water rushed toward him but he forced time to slow down. He counted his heartbeats as he flipped upright and made his body straight as a board. The force of impact slammed his boots against his toes and knocked all of the air from his lungs. Instead of gasping for breath Obi-wan waited until he was completely submerged before spreading his arms and legs to slow his descent into the water. He swan up slowly, knowing it would be over if he swam hard enough to scare himself into taking a breath. At last the cool night air brushed across his face and he came up, gasping and choking.

"Have fun trying to shoot me down here," he muttered to the hunter he could no longer see.

Civilian clothes, no lightsaber, no comlink, and no name or rank anyone cared about. No important contacts he could reach tonight. He was not a Jedi to this enemy, he was just a boy who got in the way. What made him a Jedi, anyways?

He swam slowly to shore, trying to ease the stabbing pain from his broken rib. Fortunately he was close to the hideout –someone would be there with food and warm clothes. He crawled onto the rocks and hobbled the quarter mile to the hideout. Some hot food and dry clothes, that was what everyone needed, and it would put some sense back into his head. Help him figure out how to get out of this situation.

The soldier Roga was the only one sitting at the hideout. Obi-wan sank beside the four-foot tall, furry humanoid. There would have been five others here, if the plan had gone well. They glanced at each other.

"What now?" Roga asked. It was unnecessary for either to mention that they had a serious problem at hand.

"We should start by reviewing our assets. What do you have with you?"

Roga started to dig through his pockets.

"I have a spare button, an empty food wrapper, and an earring I found. Oh, and here is some pocket lint."

"Alright, that is a good start."

"What about you?" Roga asked.

Obi-wan patted his pants and realized something.

"I do not have pockets."

They sat in silence. The fire munching down the forest was quite beautiful from the gorge. Obi-wan liked the violet sky and the silky tendrils of clouds that weaved intricate patterns across the stars. Hopefully Qui-gon was doing better than this.

"I know why I am here," Roga said. "How did you get involved?"

Obi-wan chuckled despite the stab of pain in his ribs and wiped the bangs away from his eyes.

"That is an interesting story."

* * *

The flickering blue lights from the computer holograms waxed and waned in an intricate pattern, like the path of fireflies. Obi-wan had paid more attention to the mathematical relationship between these lights than his own screen for the past forty minutes. Half of the testing stations were still occupied with representatives from every rank within the Jedi Order. Some were haunched over at their station, scribbling furiously, while others were sitting back with their eyes closed and lips moving silently, while others still were staring blankly at the far wall. Obi-wan saw piles of food, wrappers, and handheld games cluttering a few of the work stations. One Padawan had pulled three chairs together and was fast asleep in her sleeping robes, curled up with a pillow. A beep went off to mark the time: they had been here for exactly nine hours, and Obi-wan had made no progress in the last four.

Just for kicks, he pulled open the introduction screen and read the scenario one more time, even though he had memorized it a long time ago:

** You and two other Jedi were sent on a mission to the planet Sandwich. You were intercepted by unknown SideDish fighters and have crash landed on the moon, Beta-sigma-BEVERAGEOFYOURCHOICE. Darth Vegetable is going to destroy the military base DESSERT on planet SANDWICH unless you can repair your ship, program it to evade the SideDish fighters, set a course through the asteroid belt to reach the planet, and program the ship to break through Darth Vegetable's barricade. Unfortunately, your vessel sustained massive damage and now only understands VEERTA programming language. The parameters for the defense station PEANUT BUTTER are as follows…**

No one made any attempt to make the scenario realistic because no one with half a credit worth of sense in his head would try to use VEERTA for any practical application. The language was intentionally designed to be temperamental, impractical, counter-intuitive, and incredibly difficult to compile without some sort of syntax error. This was the first time it had ever been used on a formalized test, and if you wanted to get the third highest certification in programming available, you now had to pass this test to prove that you had a frustration tolerance high enough to deal with this monotonous nonsense.

Within two hours Obi-wan had completely outlined three possible approaches. It only took him one more hour to discover that each option ran into a dead end. That's when a few Jedi Knights, and even one Padawan, had shut down their stations and left. He spent the next two hours wracking his brain for another approach, and another four hours trying to figure ways around the dead ends. He knew exactly how he would solve it in three other languages.

Nine hours was long enough, for now. He quickly wrote a program to preserve what little work he had done and left his written notes sitting at the station. Peeking from underneath the pile was a doodle of a monster eating Rovare Tyl, the Jedi Master who had designed the exam.

"Suspend," he said. An opaque shield materialized around his screen. No one looked up as Obi-wan stumbled across the room and slid through the automatic doors. He took a few moments to blink against the glaring lights of the corridor and was barely able to make out the small figure clad in robes before it barreled straight into him.

"Ooof! Hey!"

They clattered to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. Obi-wan pried himself loose and saw his tackler: a small, dark-skinned woman. Brightly colored fruit rolled merrily across the floor. A teenage boy helped her to her feet, and someone prodded Obi-wan in the ribs. He looked up to see Qui-gon standing over him with a bemused expression on his face.

"Master!" he said, and hastily jumped to attention. The woman began stuffing the fruit into her robes.

"Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Padawan Obi-wan Kenobi and Master Mina Kashir, noble representatives of the Jedi Order," Qui-gon said.

Obi-wan jolted in recognition of the name of Qui-gon's first apprentice. The only thing Obi-wan really knew about her was Qui-gon was promoted to the rank of Master once she passed the trials.

"You are Obi-wan!" the woman beamed, revealing a mouth of bright blue teeth.

"Obi-wan, this is Mina," Qui-gon said. "She steals apprentices."

"Qui-gon, I do not steal-"

"You see that apprentice with her?" Qui-gon pointed at the silent teenager. "That is not her apprentice. Her apprentice is a girl, and recently passed the trials. She stole him, and she wants to steal you."

Mina tapped her fingers against the hilt of her lightsaber. "I do not… very well, yes, you are correct, I do steal apprentices. Obi-wan, may I please steal you?"

"That depends," he said. "Will it keep me away from this exam for a while, and will there be food?"

Mina was nodding her head vigorously, but Qui-gon said, "she wants to do social psychology research on you. It will involve a lot of running."

"I will feed you."

"Only after you vomit," Qui-gon cautioned.

"Yes, but I will feed you. Will Qui-gon feed you? Probably not."

"I also will not make you vomit." Qui-gon considered for a moment, and then added, "probably. I'll lend him to you another time, Mina."

Obi-wan raised his hand innocently. "Does Obi-wan get a say in this?"

"No," Qui-gon and Mina said in unison.

Qui-gon dropped his voice and leaned in toward Obi-wan.

"I actually came to get you. There is a rather interesting… anomaly that we need to look into. Do you think your, ah, intellectual… ah… development can wait?"

"Master," Obi-wan said with an exaggerated gasp, "you certainly do not think this test is a waste of time?"

"Oh, no, not me." Qui-gon wrinkled his brow and put a hand on Obi-wan's shoulder.

"When you are done, you find me, and I will feed you," Mina said.

"Goodbye, Mina," Qui-gon said as he steered Obi-wan down the hall.

"Goodbye, Padawan-who-I-do-not-recognize," Obi-wan called to the teenager who had remained silent with a confused look on his face during the entire conversation.

"What is this anomaly, does it bite?" Obi-wan asked as he jogged to keep up with Qui-gon down the corridor.

"I have been relaying very important, very confidential information regarding the defenses of a particular base on a strategically important planet down a message cascade of other Jedi. I do not know where my information came from, or who the final recipient is. I believe an outside source is making an attempt to access the information that is coming to me, and I think they will soon be successful."

Obi-wan got his mind to shift gears from meeting Qui-gon's first apprentice to the problem at hand. It was a scenario he could not quite comprehend.

"How? I know that system, Master, and it is very secure. It is hard for me to imagine how someone would even begin to extract that information."

"Remind me again how it works."'

"The smallest unit of data in the very first computers could only be in one of a two states. Now, most information is stored in units which can be in several states out of an infinite number of states, all simultaneously. The most advanced data is regulated by a very complex wave function, so that the _rate_ of all of those changing states is determined by a separate equation. You are receiving information which has an equation attached to it, but you cannot pull anything important out of that information because the equation is not the right equation. When you pass on the data to someone along the line, they modify the equation, and the information is not readable by any computer until it reaches its final point. To see the same information that you are receiving, someone would have to have the same rate of state change. That is a very specific rate. Even if they did see the information as you are receiving it, they would not have the right modification to read it. It is a very powerful type of encryption. Programs of this complexity have not been successful at hacking into each other."

"Well, since you know so much, then tell me why four out of my five security programs are telling me this data is being accessed."

Obi-wan stopped dead in his tracks, tripping Qui-gon.

"Master! Why have you not told anyone?"

"I just told you."

Obi-wan's mind was racing ahead. Maybe it was going too fast to be any use, but he could sense a larger plan falling into place.

"Rather, why have you not told anyone important? I can think of one way that someone would do it, and that has implications worse than the security of this single base."

"Oh?"

"It could mean an enemy to the Republic is breaking into our system using a program which is the next level of complexity up. That is just a theoretical program, at that point – it requires you think in eight dimensions."

Qui-gon was still waiting, Obi-wan realized. His mind was rooted in pragmatism, not theory.

"The math is beyond me, but what it would mean is this outside source could break into any file they wanted, even the ones under the most complex encryption, with a little bit of cleverness and patience. It is similar to playing a game against someone who is not bound by the rules."

"And every program in the Jedi Temple is still bound by the rules. This outside source could access any file. Every set of controls."

"It is a possibility."

"I was worried you would say something along those lines," Qui-gon said grimly. "I suppose it would be best to start at technical support."

**Well, there we are. I have written several chapters ahead, so I should crank out the next few on a weekly basis. Comments of any kind are welcome :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own this star wars and this whole shebangbang is just for fun. Hopefully the writing will be clearer than last time xD Anyways, go ahead, pretend your meter stick is a lightsaber and try to jump over your couch. When you trip over the top of your couch, go into a shoulder roll and ignore the strange look your cat gives you. Haaaiiiya!**

Roga's eyes shone from the faint light of the night sky.

"You knew there was something wrong right away," he said. "How? A glitch unrelated to security can cause security systems to give false positives."

"Maybe I was a little bit over enthusiastic," Obi-wan replied. The pain in his side was spreading to his head. "But we did what we did."

****

The technical support main station told Qui-gon and Obi-wan to go the information security station. The information security station told them to go to the technician who oversaw the security programs. The technician who oversaw the security programs told them to go to the Jedi who gave Qui-gon his assignment. The assistant of the Jedi who gave Qui-gon his assignment told him them that she was away and would be unreachable for the next two standard days, and that they should seek assistance from the technical support main station.

"We are Jedi," Qui-gon said as they ran back down the corridor. "We are defenders of the galaxy. The Temple communication system has to be better than this."

"Apparently not," Obi-wan muttered.

They hunted down one of Qui-gon's good friends in the technical support section, rather than haggle their way through the system. The Togruta listened to them intently, stopping Qui-gon twice to ask technical questions neither he nor Obi-wan understood. When they finished, he propped his elbows on the edge of a table and leaned back.

"I believe you have found a considerable threat, not only to your own assignment, but also to the security of the Temple," he said.

"It is refreshing to hear someone say that."

"I think this threat justifies a visit to speak directly to the commanders of the endangered base. The bigger problem, of course, is the possibility of an intrusion on Temple security. That will become my concern. I can start to solve this problem much more quickly than you. No offense, of course."

"I am glad to hand that problem to you," Qui-gon said. "Obi-wan, will this interfere with your certification?"

"It should not, Master," Obi-wan said, although he hardly cared about the certification. "Technically, all I have to do is finish the test in the next twenty standard days."

"Thank you for your advice," Qui-gon said to his friend. They all exchanged bows before Obi-wan and Qui-gon dashed back through the corridors.

They traveled to the largest hangar within the Temple, a structure which could hold one third of the Jedi fleet. The attendants included the ancient Twi'lik Yoze and Hedgie, a tall girl just a year younger than Obi-wan. Neither seemed particularly bent on cooperating.

"I am sorry, Master Jinn," Yoze said. "Without the proper authorization I can only sign off star ships to teams of two or more Jedi holding the title of Knight or higher. It is an issue which has been debated many times, but has held firmly for the past century for safety reasons."

"But this is _important_," Qui-gon said. For a moment, it looked to Obi-wan like he was pouting.

"My decision stands," Yoze said firmly. "If you come back with the proper authorization, I will be free to release a ship to you."

"That could very well take an extra twenty hours, and our situation does not _allow_ an extra twenty hours."

"Then another Jedi Knight or Master must accompany you."

He strode away, leaving Qui-gon and Obi-wan quite perplexed that even the Jedi Temple was not immune from senseless bureaucracy.

"I am thinking," Qui-gon said slowly, "of a particular Jedi Master who is on leave and owes me a favor. You tell Master Yoze that we will have a third member, and try to get us a reasonably decent ship. I will pack your supplies, expect me back in an hour."

Before Obi-wan could say anything, his Master was off, a mischievous expression dancing across his eyebrows.

"No one wants to tell me anything, today," he muttered. "Er, Hedgie?" He approached the blond girl who was quickly jotting notes on a digital pad. "We are taking a third member, a Jedi Master. We are not going incredibly far, just to planet Sidar, in the Jexian System. Can you set us up with something?"

"It may not be far, but it is somewhat remote and obscure," she said without looking up. "Vessel distribution is tight right now, and we have limited options."

Obi-wan raised his eyebrows and pointed at the full hangar. "I see."

"I can give you _The Virgin Frontier_, the Republic Cruiser down at the end."

Obi-wan followed her finger and saw the narrow, dark blue ship tucked away in a shadow. It was clunky and old, with superficial cracks scattering the surface. At least, he hoped they were superficial.

"Ah, any chance of getting another one?"

"No. All of the other ships have very advanced navigation systems, which are unfortunately less robust than the basic navigation systems. The solar storms you cross getting out of this sector are at a record high, and they are destroying the improvements. The same storms are keeping us from sending reliable information to other systems."

"Er… well, at least it's not red. The red ones have absolutely no weapons whatsoever, but most of the blue ones have something. Is it armed with basic defenses?"

"Hmm… I suppose in theory, it is."

"Ah."

"I should also warn you, she has some odd quirks. She sometimes pours heat into the rooms, and sometimes, music starts blaring from the speakers with no good reason…"

****

When Qui-gon returned, he had two bags slung over his shoulder and Mina was standing at his side with a similar pack hanging at her side. She looked very small standing next to Qui-gon, but there was something in her firm stance and bright eyes which made it clear that she was not at all delicate.

"We have our third wheel," Qui-gon said. "Which ship do we have?"

"_The Virgin Frontier_," Obi-wan said. He scrambled to his feet and hastily bowed to both Qui-gon and Mina.

"Very well," Qui-gon said, swiftly disguising his true opinion of the battered cruiser with a nod of approval. "Hands on the _Virgin_."

"Qui-gon, keep your hands _off_ virgins," Mina admonished.

Obi-wan choked back laughter as Qui-gon shook his head and led them on board. The interior smelled musty and ozone stung Obi-wan's nose. The humidity sunk down on his shoulders and the echo from Qui-gon's footsteps echoed sharply as he beelined to the control panel. Obi-wan opened the door to the storage hatch and scanned over the boxes, trying to figure what they were departing with. He sensed Mina behind him, on her tiptoes, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Here, Master Mina," he said and quickly moved to the side.

"Just call me Mina. The alliteration sounds silly." She winked and crawled halfway into the hatch. "This feels like twenty years ago. I am on a mission with my former master, _and_ that is how old most of this medical supplies is."

"It's also the same navigation system they used twenty years ago."

"Oh, good, otherwise it would be too easy. Well, _most_ of this equipment is _almost_ usable, at least in a partial sense." She clambered out of the hatch and stood so close to Obi-wan he started to feel uncomfortable. He could feel the Force flowing over him as she scrutinized the split ends of his braid to the scuff mark on his boot. Obi-wan commanded his feet to stay firmly in place, though he really wanted to take a step back. Subconsciously, he knew that other Jedi assessed him, but few did it so obviously. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"You…you seem solid, like a block of wood. You give me a... oh, what is a good word for that... a block-of-wood feeling. It is all in there, you know." She jabbed her finger into his chest. "Everything that someone needs to be great, including knowing how to use it. I think you have it."

"E-excuse me?" he stuttered.

"It just came into my head. You probably should not pay attention to me." A smile took over her face. "Let's go, we should leave before Qui-gon gets grumpy."

*****

Qui-gon advanced toward Obi-wan, his lightsaber held in the opening position of style IV combat. With little difficulty they had moved the furniture out of the makeshift conference room and had transformed it into a makeshift-makeshift practice room. The walls were smooth, the floors were padded with a slightly forgiving surface, and there were no sharp corners. The investment in time was worth the mental relief. It was a ten hour journey, and most Jedi could not truly relax without a good deal of exercise every day.

Obi-wan retreated toward the center of the room, lighsaber held diagonally across his body in a very conservative, defensive position.

"Come, now, Obi-wan," Qui-gon chided. "Move on the offensive. Think of this as a game, a game called 'attack Qui-gon'." The Jedi's eyes blue eyes twinkled as he held his lightsaber far off to the side, leaving his chest wide open.

Obi-wan knew that already, because Mina had warned him when she stumbled in the control room to relieve him from his shift. She had just picked up twelve new bruises and a shallow cut above her brow during a game of "attack Qui-gon".

Qui-gon liked to parry downward, and it would be nearly impossible to hit him with a first intention attack. Obi-wan focused on Qui-gon's right knee and locked the target in his mind. He could sense every shift through space that knee made, and held it in his mind as he lunged with full force toward Qui-gon's shoulder. Qui-gon parried the attack downward. Obi-wan recovered forwards and jabbed at the Jedi Master's knee – only to have Qui-gon step in toward the attack and nail him right in the solar plexus with his lightsaber hilt.

Obi-wan dropped to the ground with a gasp, struggling to suck air back into his lungs.

"Hard to breathe?" Qui-gon asked. "Does it feel like someone is sitting on your chest?"

"Not _quite_ that bad, master," Obi-wan croaked.

Qui-gon sat on Obi-wan's chest.

"What about now?"

This time, Obi-wan could not speak at all. The door slid open and Mina poked her head in. She did not seem surprised by the scene in front of her.

"We just dropped out of hyperspace. It should take us thirty minutes to clear through all security checkpoints and dock," she said. There was a loud shriek from down the corridor, making her jump and look over her shoulder. "And, apparently the console is making a very scary noise."

"I'll come look. Obi-wan, review the records on data transfer to the base," Qui-gon said. Before Obi-wan could get up or even acknowledge the order, both Jedi disappeared behind the door.

Obi-wan staggered to his feet and thumbed through the list of files. He had already spent six hours reviewing them and seriously doubted that an extra thirty minutes would help. Instead he looked over the notes he had written down about the programming test. The answer to the problem was there, sitting in the back of his mind. It took three hours for people to start leaving the test. The programming language they had to use was VEERTA. Those two bits of information were more important than he originally though, but he did not know how, yet.

As he combed through his thoughts, he unexpectedly stumbled over one of the few things Qui-gon had ever said about Mina. _"She has more fear than any two Jedi combined, but I have never seen her truly angry."_ But of course, Qui-gon was using it as an anecdote. He had continued with,_ "I assumed for many years that fear was a path to the Dark Side because it led so naturally to anger, and anger is the true entry into the Dark Side. That is not true, Obi-wan. Fear can be a separate path in itself, striking faster and harder than anger. You must counter it with something even stronger."_ He felt uneasy at how quickly those words from Qui-gon entered his mind, like that message on fear was a message he would need to use, soon.

Something was wrong. He abandoned the notes and bolted into the corridor.

Qui-gon's baritone and Mina's alto echoed quietly from the control station. They were both huddled over the main screen.

"I had a feeling you would come before I called you," Qui-gon said in a low voice.

"Is something wrong?" It was a stupid question.

"Yes, but it is hard to say what it means. Normally we would be in range of other ships coming and going, but there is no one out there. No merchant vessels, no travelers, no diplomats – this is a busy and active planet, but we are not even receiving signals from satellites."

"I'm at the main guns," Mina said. "Just in case. Still nothing to shoot at."

"And the rear guns don't work," Obi-wan murmured, staring into the vast expanse of space.

When you were on the ground, you looked for enemies in front of you, behind you, to your left, and to your right. In small aircraft you had to watch both the sky above and below you. In space, the concepts such as "above" and "below" were based only on the tiny bubble of your own vessel. "Sideways" to you could be "up" to someone else. An enemy could come from any position and orientation. Obi-wan felt a trill of danger.

"Here it comes, hold on!" Qui-gon warned.

Obi-wan dropped low and braced himself with the handholds on the wall as the _Virgin_ banked sharply to the left. The tremendous pressure of G-force crunched down on his back – Qui-gon was decelerating quickly to keep the ship from ripping apart under the strain. The _Virgin_ lurched sideways as blaster fire crashed into her starboard deflectors. Mina was grinding her teeth and shaking as her fingers flew across the weapons panel. Four red shots scattered away from the cruiser. A sleek, black ship much smaller than the _Virgin Frontier_ appeared on screen. The ship accelerated toward the underbelly of the cruiser and swerved away at the last moment. The words "Ditillo InterStellar Hound" were visible on the underside of the ship as it looped around for another pass.

Qui-gon maneuvered the cruiser in an intricate, deadly dance.

"Moving into position to attack! We might not get many chances."

One of Mina's screens dimmed and froze. Error messages sprung covered the main weapons' panel.

"Oi, stop that!" she snapped.

Obi-wan elbowed his way beside her and took control of the secondary artillery while Mina argued with the frozen screen. The quarter-second stretched out long as Obi-wan saw a good, brief opening on the black fighter and gave it the best the _Virgin_ had. Green lasers pummeled the deflector shields of the fighter but hardly jostled her flight.

"No effect, Master."

A web of red lights scattered from the black fighter and hurtled toward the old ship.

Qui-gon tightened his harness. "Just hold on to something," he said.

The gravity within the _Virgin_ sheered rapidly to the side as Qui-gon gunned the craft toward the planet's only moon. Obi-wan dropped to the ground and clutched the nylon straps of the floor anchoring system. They accelerated and skimmed across the surface of the moon's atmosphere. Shots peppered the _Virgin's_ hull while others fell short due to the interference from the moon's gravity. Three bursts of energy gained on them, but the _Virgin_ raced onwards on the same course, dipping down towards the moon.

"Master!" Obi-wan and Mina both cried.

"This old ship cannot handle the force I would need to evade that attack," Qui-gon said grimly. "It would tear itself apart trying to protect us from the g-force."

Obi-wan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded slowly. The blast careened straight into the dorsal side of the _Virgin_ with an ear shattering roar. Obi-wan flew sideways into the smooth side of the wall and skidded across the floor until he snatched a support beam. Warning sirens wailed from the speakers.

"We just lost anti-gravity and part of an engine. That's it, friends, we are going down!" Qui-gon said.

**Oops. Well that's it for now. An update should be up by next friday :-) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi folks looks like I lied, my internet was down Friday and Saturday. Here we go from last week…**

The _Virgin_ was descending far too fast. Qui-gon struggled fiercely with the screen to control the cruiser, which was careening through the sky like an injured bird. The shots on the hull had greatly compromised the ship's heat resistance, but there was not much anyone could do about that. The landscape of the moon was covered with a mosaic of green, dusty red, and beige patches. Qui-gon steered them toward an expanse of open plains close to a mountain range, which was about the best he could do.

Mina stared at single tile on the floor, her eyes open but unseeing. Obi-wan put his hand against the wall and explored the inner cavities of the cruiser through the Force. He crept around the engines, sensing the damage and some of the causes behind failure. With agonizing concentration he sent tendrils of the Force to coax more power out of the energy converters. Mina was there as well, clearing away tiny bits of debris which were interfering with the cruiser's function.

"Leave it at that, strap in and get ready for impact in seventy seconds," Qui-gon said.

With great difficulty Obi-wan lurched to his feet, stumbled to the nearest harness and strapped himself in. For all their effort, the ground still rushed up toward them with incredible speed. They approached the ground at a shallow angle, positioning over the surface of a green lake. The cruiser slammed against the surface of the water, jarring Obi-wan's brain around his head, and bounced back off. It slammed into the water again and the latch on one of the storage hatches broke open. Spare bits of metal and measuring equipment flew through the control room. Obi-wan reached out with the Force and parted the river of metal scraps around his space. Mina was able to deflect the three hundred pound power cell away from her body, but she could not stop it from clipping her leg as it sped by.

The shoreline rushed onto the viewing screen and the _Virgin_ skidded across the deep sand. It traveled one hundred yards and left a deep rut in the ground before grinding to a halt. No one said anything for a full minute, although the cockpit was filled with sounds of groaning metal and the static from frazzled circuits.

"That," Qui-gon said, "was not a bad landing. Is everyone alright?"

"Yes," replied Obi-wan, amazed he could answer in the affirmative.

"Mina, how hard did that power cell hit you?"

"Ha ha, let us see." Mina propped her foot gingerly up on her seat and put her hand on her lower leg. There was a forced grin on her face and her eyes were watering. "Not too bad. I think it is a very clean, straight fracture. Everything I need to treat it is on the ship. Where are we, anyways?"

"Ah, the name "Begerave" flashed once on the screen before flaring red warning lights took over the console," Qui-gon said.

"We have crash landed on the moon Begerave?" Obi-wan asked. His eyebrows wrinkled as he rearranged a couple letters. "Of course we have."

"Is there something unique about that?"

Obi-wan rechecked his spelling to make sure 'beverage' and 'begerave' had all of the same letters in them. Speaking of which, Ditillo InterStellar Hound, maybe also known as D.I.S.H. Talk about exasperating coincidences.

"It is not particularly important, Master."

They spent an hour inspecting the _Virgin_ and found encouraging news. The final attack across the dorsal side had left an ugly gash and had knocked off whole chunks of shielding. It appeared as though the impact had rattled the _Virgin_'s delicate internal circuit protector, making the circuit connections more susceptible to environmental overload. The ship's failsafe mechanism overrode Qui-gon's attempts to steer away from the moon because the maneuver would have put too much strain on the unprotected circuits, a situation which could easily lead to a fire or an extensive failure which would have left the ship too disabled to make a survivable landing. Crashing was the better alternative to staying in a fight with a superior ship, anyways. Fix the protector, and she would be flyable. At least in theory.

Qui-gon seemed markedly happier that they were sitting in the prairie at the base of an unknown mountain range, rather than arguing with some computer programmer in an iron-clad room.

"I want to see what is out there." According to the ship's radar, there is a developed area very close to here. Obi-wan will come with me. Mina will…"

"Mina will guard the ship," Mina said. The black splotch spreading over her leg was visible through the transparent bacta gauze she had wrapped around it. There was a loud _pop _as sparks showered the bridge. "And try to fix it."

"Mina will guard the ship," Qui-gon agreed. "If there were one Jedi who could make this washing machine travel worthy again it…" he tapped his fingers against his lightsaber. Mina wrinkled her brow. "It would not be you."

"It would not be me," she said, shaking her head in agreement.

Obi-wan and Qui-gon got ready quickly. Mina leaned in the threshold of the cruiser's entrance as they stood outside and checked their packs a final time.

"Be careful, boys," she said.

"Do not let your guard down. You may not be any safer than us."

Qui-gon and Obi-wan marched briskly into the cool, sweet-smelling afternoon. Each breath filled Obi-wan's lungs with oxygen-rich air, giving his limbs more energy for the indefinite hike. The mountains, about ten miles away, jabbed into a purple sky. It was hard to tell how much daylight they would have – moons could have rather erratic periods of night and day based on how their own rotation interacted with their path around a planet.

"The settlement I caught on the screen had a very high level of technology," Qui-gon said. "An isolated pocket like that is probably very important."

"Do you figure that whoever was intercepting your data was successful in barricading this planet?"

"That conclusion requires quite a few assumptions I am not willing to make," Qui-gon said abruptly. "But yes, I would suppose that is what happened."

"Then this settlement we are running to could be hostile, or under occupation, or otherwise very dangerous."

"Yes."

"That's exciting!"

"We will have to be very delicate."

"Yes, and it should be fun!"

Two years ago, Qui-gon might have started off a lecture on caution and arrogance. The two of them had passed that point some time back, and they ran they ran the eight miles to the feet of the base of the mountains in an easy hour and in comfortable silence. It seemed unwise for two people as tall as Obi-wan and Qui-gon to be running in the open toward a place of seclusion, where anyone waiting in the rocks could see the Jedi long before the Jedi could see them without even trying. Master and apprentice knew this without ever mentioning it, and while they could blend in to the scenery and avoid notice much longer than the average man, they could not regain the upper hand.

"It looks like we are closing in on the last kilometer to the settlement, Master," Obi-wan said. They had entered the forest at the foot of the mountains, a labyrinth of wood and rock. It was hard to call the life forms which made the forest trees, for they were all connected to each other at the base and at the top, creating a structure which resembled a gigantic honey comb. Vines with furry projections rather than leaves crept up the strange, flat, "trunks" of the woody plants.

"It is straight over that hill," Obi-wan said, pointing to a large hill covered in white-gray boulders. "I know that we cannot see very far, but it might be worth it to look over that area. Maybe we can see something helpful."

Qui-gon nodded in agreement and pressed up the hill. Obi-wan scrambled a few paces behind Qui-gon, panting lightly. Toward the top they ducked low and lumbered toward the top of the outcrop on all fours, careful to stay below the boulders. A few meters from the top, Qui-gon stopped and waved Obi-wan next to his side.

"Keep an eye open for me, it looks like I can get a good look through this little gap."

Obi-wan nodded as his master slipped between the rocks and disappeared. There was a soft beep from Obi-wan's tracker. His eyes widened as they fell upon the screen, recently corrected to match their current position.

"Er, master!"

He hurried through the rocks after Qui-gon. The rough stone squeezed and jostled him as he weaved through the narrow passage.

"And when I said one kilometer, master, I actually meant one hundred-"

A pair of strong arms yanked Obi-wan away from the exit of the passage and a hand molded across his mouth. He wound up crouched underneath a boulder, looking straight into the face of a miffed Qui-gon. The scowl lines on the Jedi master's were so deep they looked like the cracks lining the hull of the _Virgin Frontier_. The glare would have forced most to look away, but Obi-wan had (for better or for worse) fallen under that scowl many times before and knew how to face it.

He stared straight back and mumbled "Meters," through Qui-gon's hand.

Qui-gon put a finger to his lip, nodded, and took his hand away from Obi-wan's mouth. He indicated with a nod that Obi-wan should look over the rock they were huddled against.

With the sleek grace of a cat Obi-wan slinked over the six foot boulder and peered over the edge. The metallic glint of buildings shone through the trees. A white pathway wound through the community, broken by the various humanoids as they scrambled back and forth across the roads. Qui-gon slid up next to Obi-wan.

"That," he whispered crossly, "is _not_ a kilometer."

"But it probably is a hundred meters. I'm sorry, Master, it took longer for the positioning system to adjust to our movements than I thought it would."

"We are already within the perimeters of the city. We passed by the first security posts without realizing it! We might have been caught."

"Well… we weren't."

"Do not say that yet. Someone could be coming for us now."

Oh, good point.

"It looks like an outside group is occupying whatever this station is," Qui-gon said.

Obi-wan pulled out his binoculars and zoomed into the streets. It only took him a few minutes to make sense of the chaotic ramble in the city. Humans and a few other species dressed in civilian clothes were under the control of the figures clad in black jumpsuits and sleek helmets. While the captors were clearly in charge, the prisoners had considerable freedom to move back and forth within given boundaries.

There was a third group, a race of humanoids. They were about four feet tall and were completely covered in scruffy grey fur. Each one of them wore a green vest, brown trousers, and sleek black boots. The jumpsuits had the fluffies corralled in tight ranks at gunpoint. Many of the humanoids were injured or bound at the wrist by devices that Obi-wan could not quite recognize from such a distance.

"I am thinking the humans run this establishment. The figures with helmets are occupying it, and the furry grey things are a hired police force for whatever this base is," Obi-wan said. "We can only see a small section of the situation – I can see maybe three hundred people. There could be as many as ten thousand, depending on how far back this city goes."

"There is a lot of confusion down there," Qui-gon said thoughtfully.

"We could stay up here for a while and try to see what sort of pattern their activity has. This is not blind chaos, there is a pattern and we could figure it out with a little bit of time. There might be a way to access those buildings without anyone noticing. We could get on a computer, and – master?"

Qui-gon had left Obi-wan's side and was striding casually down the hill, well-hidden by the high rocks. He paused and waited for Obi-wan to stumble down the steep slope and join him.

"Enough talking," Qui-gon said. "I have an idea."

"He could at least tell me what it is before we do it," Obi-wan muttered before following him.

**That's it till next week, this time it really should be up by Friday as I'll be going somewhere with a very reliable connection, unlike the place I am now. Any type of review is appreciated, it's nice to know I'm not talking to myself **


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't really own anything. If it sounds like it's from Star Wars, there's a good chance it is xD As always, reviews mucho mucho appreciated **

"I thought that Jedi planned ahead carefully," Roga said. He pelted a few pebbles into the river. "Our humble police force plans more than that."

"If you think that is improvising, wait until you hear this," Obi-wan chuckled.

*****

The soldiers clad in black and suited with helmets were easily able to subdue their captives with the threat of their sleek, light rifles. There were too few of them, however, to effectively hold complete order. The captors' power over the prisoners was largely psychological, and if they pressed an issue too far complete chaos would break out. They would then have to rely on messier techniques, something no one wanted. One guard saw something on the border of the well-contained chaos, an image he caught only in the corner of his eye. It gave him an uneasy feeling, like something was wrong. No matter how hard he tried, the guard could not understand what it was he had seen. A child having a temper tantrum snatched his attention away and he quickly forgot about the strange feeling that was bothering him.

No one else really noticed the teenage boy and middle-aged man dressed in green, button-down shirts and brown cargo pants enter the crowd of people. Obi-wan and Qui-gon dropped most of the illusion once they were well-hidden within the throng, riding on the hope that this operation was large enough that no one would immediately realize they did not belong. Their robes and survival supplies were stashed beneath a nondescript cluster of rocks, and they hid their lightsabers in the huge pockets of their new pants.

"This does not exactly follow the rules of caution and planning ahead, master," Obi-wan said.

"We could have spent all day sitting at the top of those rocks and not learned anything. Down here, we can listen."

For the next ten minutes they listened and observed, avoiding eye contact with their fellow captives and staying far away from the mysterious soldiers guarding them. They learned that the establishment was a station devoted to research in theoretical computer science. The captives were all faculty and staff, and the short humanoids were a hired police force. Half a dozen theories were circulating around the group of about two hundred, all of them completely different and most of them completely ridiculous. No one knew why they were here. The soldiers had stormed into the buildings at night, herded everyone outside, and apprehended the military force. Six hours had passed. No one seemed to understand or even recognize the language that the soldiers spoke, and if the soldiers could speak the standard language, they had chosen not to.

"This seems like a research station with considerable power. What sort of power this facility might provide to an organization who did find a way to actualize a theoretical computer that can eventually override ever form of encryption we create?"

"A lot of power, and a lot of good scientists. But we are prisoners, now," Obi-wan said crossly. "We were free before, and we are prisoners now. How are we supposed to figure out what is happening?"

"I think," Qui-gon said slowly, a mischievous smile spreading across his face, "it is time we made our presence known."

Obi-wan kept his opinions to himself as he and Qui-gon wrestled their way to a guard standing a little bit further from the others. He (or she, it was impossible to tell) stood a whole head taller than Qui-gon and clutched a set of gloved fingers around his rifle when they approached. A slight smile still on his face, Qui-gon closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he wore an expression of panic.

"Sir, sir! Please, why are you doing this to us? My boy and I are just here to support the family, got a sick old woman back at home and his little sister isn't doing so well. We just following our dreams, sir, please tell me we can see them again! Please!"

For a moment Obi-wan was too stunned at the sight of his master crying and begging to speak, but then he blinked himself into tears and clutched at Qui-gon's elbow.

"My sister needs me, sir, she's so fragile! Think of what it would do to her heart! You must know someone who has a sister."

Obi-wan took the pause to look into the mind of the soldier. He sensed irritation, confusion, and bewilderment, but not comprehension. The soldier could not understand a word they were saying.

The soldier seized Obi-wan by the shoulders and leaned in close, the forest reflecting across the black visor of his helmet.

"_Jhisx ei hexoznhsh lekwah teyishqu!"_ he snarled.

Obi-wan's brain scrambled back through his memories. Something about that language was familiar. He had heard hundred of languages before, and knew little phrases and simple sentences in about three dozen. Finally, he recognized the speech. It was Cerozian, the preferred language for certain types of literature.

"Ah… _gyesh bieyj k'lok wiqudx! Zwip fru lehiy jlire!"_ Obi-wan responded, as confidently as he could.

The grip around his shoulders tightened, and then the soldier let out a choked grumbling noise which might have been a laugh. He released Obi-wan and pounded him on the back.

"Would you care to tell me what you said to him?" Qui-gon whispered, pulling Obi-wan back.

"It translates roughly to 'the cabbages in my shoes reflect the same radiation as dictators and salt'."

"Oh, good. I am sure that impressed them."

"It does not translate very well. It is a very famous line from Cerozian literature, I learned it in a class."

"It sounds full of literary value."

"_Wevbo sihjkv!"_

"Excellent, now what is he saying?"

"I have no idea. That line is all I memorized."

The soldier removed a small, silver device from his belt and pointed it at Obi-wan. A shaft of blue light passed over his body and an angry beep emitted from the device. The guard did the same to Qui-gon with a similar result. He gave a guttural roar, signaling three more guards to his side.

"Uh oh," the two Jedi muttered together. They knew what was going to happen before it did.

One guard grabbed a young woman and held his rifle to her head. A second guard jabbed his rifle right into Obi-wan's chest, while another did the same to Qui-gon. The two knew each other and the situation so well, that the observer would not be able to track the imperceptible gestures of the conversation.

_They are going to take our lightsabers,_ Obi-wan noted with a very slight glance to where their weapons were hidden. _We might be fast enough to take them out and disable these weapons before the soldiers fire._

_Probably, but the woman would die. They might open fire on everyone else. I am not quite ready for all hell to break loose._

_Once they see we are carrying lightsabers, they will know we are Jedi, and all hell _will _break loose. Only difference is, we will not have our lightsabers._

The soldier reached down for Obi-wan's pocket. Panic sirens blared in his head. He could not let someone take his lightsaber.

_No_, Qui-gon's eyes said firmly. _No. Steady. Steady. Trust the Force. This is the right thing to do._

Obi-wan felt like his mind was being torn in three different directions. His heart flipped and turned wildly in his chest, and looking into Qui-gon's eyes was the only thing that let him keep still while the soldier confiscated first his lightsaber, and then Qui-gon's.

The three guards took their weapons off of the captives. The woman gave a soft gasp and scrambled quickly to fade in the safety of the crowd. All four soldiers gathered around to inspect the lightsaber, tapping it and holding it close to their visors.

Qui-gon quickly pulled Obi-wan back next to him.

"They look confused," Obi-wan said. "How can they not know what a lightsaber is?"

"There are thousands of tools designed to kill other creatures, Obi-wan. It is hard to learn them all. Most people recognize the glowing, lethal part of the lightsaber, not the handle. I know mine well enough to deactivate the trigger mechanism. You should do the same."

Obi-wan reached out with the Force and quickly obeyed.

"Now we know two new things about them," Qui-gon whispered. "They speak Cerozian, and they are not familiar enough with the Jedi to immediately recognize lightsaber hilts. Most mercenary groups are taught about lightsabers and at least understand standard speech. This considerably narrows the options down as to who we are dealing with."

The visor popped open and a grey, protruding snout was visible from beneath the helmet. A pair of ivory tusks and a pink tongue emerged when the hideous mouth opened. The guard fit Obi-wan's lightsaber in his mouth.

Qui-gon reached around Obi-wan and firmly trapped his arms as the boy tried to lunge forward.

"Stop."

"But master!" Obi-wan hissed, trying to point when both hands were stuck at his sides. "He is going to eat my lightsaber!"

"Calm down, son."

The simple phrase calmed Obi-wan from somewhere deep inside, clearing all of the static from his mind and allowing him to evaluate their situation with fresh eyes. The soldier did not eat Obi-wan's lightsaber, instead tucking it inside his belt. Qui-gon draped his arm across Obi-wan's shoulders and leaned in close.

"They are Twohalrian," he said. "That is interesting."

"Twohalrian?"

"Mercenaries. They believe in cultural and racial purity, and know that they are the superior race. They avoid learning any other languages to keep their culture intact, and they want nothing to do with weapons and battle tactics outside of their own."

"They still might know an lightsaber when it is activated…."

Qui-gon nodded. Handing over their lightsabers quietly might have been the best option.

"_Vershoowak muhrte xioljk!"_ one of the guards rumbled. He set an alarm off that was loud enough to make Obi-wan grab his ears, causing all of the captives to jump, wheel around, and face the guard that activated the alarm. Everyone fell silent. The Twohalrian shoved Obi-wan forward with a grunt.

"They seem to think you can translate for them," Qui-gon whispered.

"Bad assumption!" he shot back.

"_Besjh kehal breujake maibare!"_

Obi-wan glanced anxiously between the enormous mercenaries, the waiting crowd, and Qui-gon.

"Er, ladies and gentleman!"

"_Jioklp peraxj h'nlo resha quix ri goljoyeny_!"

Time slowed down. Obi-wan could sense the pause between the contractions of the different parts of his heart and hear the shallow, fearful breathing of the prisoners at the assembly. He could make something up and lie to these people, refuse to translate and risk the rage of the mercenaries, or he could take a stand.

"Please do not react to this sentence. I do not understand what they are saying."

"_Meage versh jitquoe putezsh!_"

"But my mentor and I can help you!"

"_Riokj lewshkearop e' toyi putezsh gemo!"_

"If the time comes, we will need as much help as we can get."

"_Jitaque fsesio ek beirkaeiwxa!_"

"If you do not want to be involved, keep a low profile. It may be best to hide somewhere safe, it may be best to lay flat on the ground."

"Obi-wan," Qui-gon said in a low, warning voice.

"What?"

One of the mercenaries at the other end of the crowd roared at the others. A shouting match ensued. Disorder broke out in the crowd as the prisoners turned back and forth between the two sides.

"You assumed that these guards do not know enough standard language to realize you were not translating what they said."

"Oh." Obi-wan nodded slowly. "That would be another bad assumption."

"Very bad assumption."

"Is it go-time?"

Qui-gon responded by charging into the nearest mercenary, darting around behind his back and putting the huge guard into a full-nelson. Obi-wan tried unsuccessfully to summon his lightsaber as he threw himself upon the rifle of another guard. His strength was no match for the sheer power of the Twohalrian. Trying to pry the rifle from its grip was like trying to bench press _The Virgin Frontier_. He sent a shockwave of the Force straight into the face of the guard and felt his grip loosen just enough for Obi-wan to wrench the rifle free. Without checking the setting, Obi-wan fired right into the guard's gut. The blast did not melt the armor, indicating that the setting was on a heavy stun rather than kill.

Blaster fire was flashed all around, the heat searing his cheeks as the shots passed by. Obi-wan leapt away from the fallen captor and twisted mid-air. A group of five people had latched on to another guard, while the final guard was trying to pry them away. He trained his rifle on Obi-wan and missed twice before the young Jedi took him down with a well-placed shot. Instinctively, Obi-wan hit the ground in a roll and dodged the fire from the guards at the other end of the crowd. He wound up next to Qui-gon, who had wrestled away a rifle for himself.

The small security force had broken into rebellion and had managed to snatch three rifles among them. More soldiers were coming.

"Time to get out," Qui-gon muttered.

"Lightsabers!" Obi-wan barely dodged the next volley of blaster fire.

"They changed the setting to 'kill', we would draw fire into the crowd if we went back."

No time for argument. Obi-wan reluctantly followed Qui-gon. They sprinted towards the edge of the forest, the Twohalrians closing steadily from behind. Strategies flashed through Obi-wan's head as they fled. The guards seemed to be powerful sprinters, but the two Jedi could probably outrun them past eight hundred meters. Once they reached the forest they would be under cover while their pursuers remained in the open, if only for a few seconds.

A band of four security officers joined Qui-gon and Obi-wan as soon as they leapt over the first set of entwined tree roots. Obi-wan stopped dead, wheeled around on his heel, and dropped to one knee. Shots whizzed past him as he carefully took down one of their pursuers.

"Come with us!" one of the security officers insisted. He barely came up to Qui-gon's elbow and tugged earnestly at the big Jedi's sleeve. "There will be more coming from other directions. There is a building with good defenses, a place where we could make a good stand. It's valuable, I do not think our captors would risk damaging it."

"Alright," Qui-gon said. "Come, Obi-wan!"

It seemed like all they were doing was running away. Heart wiggling down to his stomach. Obi-wan turned around and followed their little allies into the darkness of the woody labyrinth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay, update. I thought I put this up, but apparently forgot =P Have fun**

"You created a commotion big enough for the police to wrestle away weapons from the mercanaries," Roga said. "We lost some good officers. The ones who escaped and went with you were all friends to me."

"Your people are very brave," Obi-wan said. He chose to allow sadness to creep into his voice.

The small furry humanoids were surprisingly good runners. They kept a brisk pace into the woods, quickly losing their pursuers in the confusing woods. The woods broken and they came to the edge of a deep gorge. They continued along with the gorge to their right, holding silence until one of the officers signaled them to stop.

"Look at the other end of the bank," he said. The officer held out a metal tag and flashed it in the light three times, leaving a pause between the second and the third. Across the river, a bright flash of light answered back.

"We have a hideout, down there. There are defenses set up which would make it very difficult to find someone there, unless you knew where to look."

"We can find that, later," Obi-wan assured. He used the Force to lock the location into his mind. It would help him find the hideout at any time, in any situation, from any angle.

They ran another two kilometers before they saw buildings shining between the tree stalks. While they were still several hundred meters away, the police force tripped open an underground entrance in a boulder field, hidden so well that it would have been hard for even a Jedi to find. As they descended a flight of crude stairs cool, dank air settled around their shoulders. One of the soldiers spent twenty minutes fiddling with a tiny control panel. They silenced the Jedi every time they attempted to speak. At last, the police murmured amongst themselves and indicated that Obi-wan and Qui-gon should follow.

"Getting through this entrance is a delicate procedure," one claimed, as they moved through the underground passage. "Once you open that hatch, a countdown begins. You have to do this rather deadly dance of code breaking to convince the defense mechanism in this tunnel to not kill you. This security system is much more elaborate than the others. It is the only building they cannot enter."

"If we have judged them well, then there is no doubt they will get through," Qui-gon said. His eyes flickered toward Obi-wan for just a moment for confirmation.

"In theory," Obi-wan said, after a split-second of hesitation. He let his uncertainty ripple through the Force, telling Qui-gon, _don't forget I'm just a student and this is all theory._

The odd band passed through an intricate network of curving hallways leading deeper into the building complex. Even though Obi-wan could never see more than ten meters before the hallway took another sharp turn, he felt that this was a very big place. The layout of the floor was precise and meticulous, the sort of design that was intended to make people forget where they were. Some Jedi learned a few theories behind designs such as these, and even more Jedi recognized the pattern. Obi-wan and Qui-gon would be able to find their way back.

"You seem to not know where we should go," Qui-gon said. There was no hint of confrontation is his voice.

"Beyond a certain point, no," an officer admitted. "We are smart. We can figure out what sections are important based on how our administrators move us, but I can tell you very little about how anything in this building works."

"There is a logic to the layout behind certain complexes. I've studied enough blue prints to think you are leading us in the right direction. The set of work stations I think we are about to reach after two left turns should be as good as any other place."

Obi-wan suppressed a grin at the soldiers' surprised expressions. Sure enough, after two left turns they unlocked a door. Behind it was a dimly-lit room lit up by a weak overhead light and colorful lights blinking from dozens of control panels. The Force was strong in the place. Curiosity and knowledge covered the floor like a layer of mist and gave the air a pleasant taste.

"Obi-wan, find a layout of this building. Blue prints, security recorders, everything. I have an idea."

Obi-wan nodded and began to experiment with the unfamiliar controls.

"I suppose you are doing something a little bit bolder," Obi-wan said.

Qui-gon gave a snort from his station, which Obi-wan took for a laugh. Within a few minutes a detailed view of the entire building on screen. One the side, a display flipped through the conditions at different stations.

A familiar, female voice buzzed from one of the stations.

"Alright, who's out there calling me?"

"Me," Qui-gon said. "Say hello to Obi-wan, Mina."

"Hello to Obi-wan," the voice replied. Mina's face appeared on a small side screen. Her black hair was plastered against her forehead and her face was flushed. "I know you would not try to contact me unless it was important, but try to make this transmission as quick as possible," she panted.

"Status?"

"Someone has been scanning this ship for life forms for twenty minutes. Right now I am simultaneously talking to you, hiding this transmission and my own life signs from the scanner, and trying to fix this scrap heap, while jumping on one foot. How are you doing?"

"Worse than you. Can you do it, and how much time do you need?"

"I know how to do this repair, I have the tools and so far, I've been clever enough to do it while convincing probes that this ship is completely dead. Maybe twenty hours. No promises, Qui-gon, and certainly no miracles."

"What was that about promises and miracles? I am very impressed you managed to reach through this channel. The building you are in is the only one we can't seem to break."

This was a voice Obi-wan did not recognize. A new face appeared on one of the large screens. It was a pale man with elaborate tattoos crisscrossing his face, and his lips parted to reveal a row of filed teeth. His face was surrounded by darkness, indicating to Obi-wan that he was purposefully keeping his location obscure.

Obi-wan gave his master a look that said _so _this _was what you were up to._ Mina rolled her eyes and gave her head a little shake.

"Nothing important," Qui-gon said. He sauntered up to the screen and casually folded his arms across his chest. "Why can't you get in to this building? You have taken the entire civilian population hostage, and you have infiltrated every other complex."

The disembodied face gave a crooked smile. "The codes protecting this building are particularly powerful. It is a worthy opponent. I will be very happy when we have the power of this building added to our force. We were able to shut down all of the planet's and moon's defense mechanisms from our mobile station, located in the ship."

"Some of the scientists must know how to get in. I'm sure they refused you at first, but I'm certain that if you threatened them and their families with death or torture, someone would let you in," Qui-gon said casually.

Obi-wan's eyes widened at the suggestion, but Mina looked very interested and leaned in closer toward her screen. She, of course, could not see the tattooed man.

"Quite a suggestion from a Jedi," the man mused. He reached into the darkness and brought Qui-gon's lightsaber into view. "You know that we would have to do some rather horrible things to people to accomplish that. Very messy. Besides, even from this floating station, our computers are powerful enough to override every security program based of your primitive understanding of how such things work."

"And when you break through, and get into this building, you win," Qui-gon said with a short nod. "Did you know about our ship? No one followed us when we crashed."

The man shrugged. "I could not have you fly off to report that something was happening. This stage is far too delicate, for that. Jedi are valuable hostages. I see two of you, but tell me, where is the third? You were speaking with her a minute ago."

"She is trying to see how your defenses work, don't mind her."

"Tell her to enjoy the work. Understand that you are stuck on this moon, and we have a defense system around in which would make it exceedingly difficult for an unauthorized ship to leave. Especially your lifeless one."

Qui-gon let his eyes roll to the side, but Obi-wan could tell he was only pretending to consider his next answer. On the table, he slid his hands where the man in black could not see them. He scribbled something directly on the desk with a marker, and drew his hands away so Obi-wan could see. He had written the word "Couruscant Collapse!" on it, with a little building drawn on the side. Obi-wan recognized it immediately as a popular game and struggled to remember the rules. You had to build up a city from a set of digital blocks, and you took turns without up to five other people to try and build the biggest sector.

"Jedi are also very dangerous hostages. Why risk it, and not simply kill us?"

In the game, as your city got larger, there were handicaps which made it more and more difficult for you to expand. At certain points in the game, you would have to start cannibalizing your own buildings for materials to build other sections. Later in the game, you could repair them. If you removed the wrong part of your city to try and build another part, an entire section could collapse. Qui-gon wanted him to search for what block had to be removed in order for the security system around the planet to collapse. Obi-wan immediately brought up an advanced statistics program and began to analyze the relative power of all the buildings in the complex.

"Jedi are supposed to be peaceful. You have more destruction in your mind than I. I do not want to destroy things."

The power of the station they were at was incredible. Obi-wan was able to trace the surveillance system imposed over the atmosphere of the moon. The Force guided his fingers to along the panel until he came to his answer: a station located along the perimeter of the largest complex. If the invaders lost control of that station, it would be sufficient to make an opening and take a ship through undetected. There, however, were many caveats.

Qui-gon caught Obi-wan's gaze and shut down their link to the mysterious invader with a few keystrokes.

"Right now, master, this building is a critical point," Obi-wan said, pointing to the map. "Disabling this station should be enough to make an escape from the moon. I do not know how long it will stay that way. The playing board is constantly changing – as they take over new sections, disabling any one station might not be enough. If we want to use this weak spot to our advantage, we will have to do it quickly."

Qui-gon nodded. "Mina, what do you think about him?"

"This operation is a game. He wants to see how precisely he can do it. He's probably well on his way to breaking into your little safe house. His intentions are destructive, and he knows we know. He might honestly not realize there is someone in this ship. _And_, before you ask, I have no idea how long I need to make these repairs."

"Twenty hours, you say? Thank you, I knew I could rely on you."

Mina raised her hands in a _you've got to be kidding me _way and cut the transmission.

"I have a plan in mind," Qui-gon said. "It requires a good deal of luck, and the reversal of a few laws of physics."

"Sounds like it needs modifying, then."

Qui-gon threw an arm around Obi-wan's shoulders and leaned in close.

"That would be less fun. Here is the plan: you take a team of security officers and you disable that building."

Obi-wan ticked their assets off on his fingers and frowned. "The seven of us. With two guns and no lightsaber."

"Not exactly. If you want seven, you will have to free some more officers. I want some help here because we are going to keep them out of this station for as long as we can. That will slow the spread of their power, allowing us as much time as possible to escape the planet."

Obi-wan dropped a few of his fingers and let his hands fall to his side.

"In all seriousness, Obi-wan," Qui-gon began with a darker voice. "It would be better if I were leading instead of you. The only reason you are going instead is because I have very little confidence you can do the job that needs to be done in here."

"And you only have little confidence that I can do the disabling job, as oppose to very little," Obi-wan said flatly.

He met Qui-gon's stare, a look he could endure longer than most other sentient beings.

"Get used to others not trusting you. I want you to prove me wrong."

**Well, until next time. Expect a swashbuckling update within ten days =) And I actually do mean ten days this time, as oppose to others times where 10 days means a few months.**


End file.
